Long time coming
by Oro-han
Summary: In the immediate aftermath of battle at Altissia, Gladio waits as the doctor examines Ignis's eyes.


Lunafreya was dead, and Noctis had been beaten nearly to death in that fight. Ignis's eyes were injured, and it wasn't good from what the doctor was saying. It seemed to Gladiolus that he and Prompto were lucky to have made it out as unscathed as they were.

At the moment Prompto was watching over the unconscious prince… King, he was all but king now, while Gladiolus sat and waited for the doctor to finish his examination of Iggy's eyes. He couldn't hear much of what the doctor told Ignis as he finished wrapping the bandages, but having been on the battlefield enough times Gladiolus knew that wounds like that usually had one outcome.

"I'm done with your friend," The doctor announced, packing up his tools. "I've left fresh bandages, make sure they get changed daily."

Gladiolus stood up to see the doctor out. "Don't worry about that Doc, whatever you told him he'll follow perfectly. He's that sort of guy." He opened the door for the small, white-haired man. "I'll look after him though, just in case."

The doctor's face had a grim cast as he leaned in close, voice barely a whisper. "I've seen injuries like this before, and there is a chance he'll recover his sight, but I wouldn't hold out too much hope." Then louder he said, "It's a rough world we live in, and dark times, you boys take care of yourself."

The door shut with a soft click, and a heavy silence settled over the room as Gladiolus tried to find something to say.

"Well," Ignis decided to break the silence first. "I do suppose I'll be needing some sort of walking stick for the time being. Something simple, in black I think."

Gladiolus chuckled bitterly, "Stylish as always."

"Oh, come now." Ignis responded softly. Then they both broke out in laughter at the ridiculousness of the situation. "Help me to a chair, if you will. Sitting on this overstuffed bed is doing no favors for my back."

"Sure thing." Gladiolus crossed the large room, and took Ignis by the upper arm, guiding him to the plush chairs where he had been waiting for the prognosis earlier. "How are you feeling?"

"Right as rain, all things considered." His free hand found the back of the chair and he guided himself to sit down. "Much better." He paused, "And how about yourself?"

If Ignis could see he would have been met with a look of incredulity as he flopped into the chair opposite of Ignis, "Not a scratch on me, and you know it. Worry about yourself."

"That's not what I meant," He considered his next words before speaking them. "How are you emotionally? This whole situation has been hard on everyone, I know Prompto must be a mess with as much as he cares for Noctis, and your voice sounds more strained than usual."

Gladiolus's first instinct was to deny everything, to be strong and support their little group, but then he remembered it was just him and Iggy, and no one out of the three friends knew him better. "I'm hanging in there." He conceded. "I'm worried, worried about you, worried about Noctis obviously, and Prompto is such a good kid. With everything that's happened, well, it's hit him hard."

Ignis nodded, his mouth turned down at the corners in a slight frown. "You're right to worry about the two of them. This is a large burden to bear for the both of them. So much loss, so much pain."

"And what about you? What about what you've lost?" Gladiolus couldn't keep the anger from his voice.

"The doctor said that my vision has a chance to recover, so for now I'll assume it's merely misplaced, not lost." There was a scolding sort of sharpness to his voice, a tone Gladiolus recognized from the countless other times he'd been put in his place by Iggy's cool logic.

"Yeah, yeah." Gladiolus muttered, staring down at his hands resting on his lap, thinking that he could have done more, should have done more. Another hand, ungloved, blindly reached out and found one of his own, grasping it reassuringly.

"There's only so much any of us could have done." Ignis reassured. "We saved countless lives that day, for all that we've lost, and in Noctis receiving the power of the Leviathan we've dealt another serious blow to the Empire."

"Yeah." Gladiolus stared at the bandaged face of one of his oldest friends, the only other person he knew that had suffered the younger prince more than he had, and realized that this was probably the end of it. After all these years of camaraderie and drunken stories exchanged after a long day's work, Ignis would no longer be able to fulfil his duties.

The silence grew thick and he could see the growing concern on Ignis's sightless face, and came to a decision then and there. He leaned over, grabbing the other man by the collar and pulled him into a rough kiss. Gladiolus wasn't sure what he expected in return, but it wasn't for Ignis to kiss him back.

Neither of them were inexperienced, with women that was, but he was pretty sure that this was new territory for both of them. Still, out of all the shit that had happened lately, this was something that finally felt right.

After a brief eternity they parted, sitting back up in their chairs, another silence falling over them, this one awkward.

"Well-"

"I-"

They both started speaking and stopped at the same time, then broke out into laughter. It was hilarious, really, two grown ass men acting like unsure kids.

"That," Ignis emphasized the word, "has been a long time coming, don't you think?"

Gladiolus didn't have to think, he knew the answer. "Too long. I don't know what I was waiting for."

"Apparently for the moment I couldn't see it coming." Ignis joked at his own expense.

Gladiolus chuckled, appreciating the attempt at keeping the mood light, but that feeling of loss creeping back over him all the same.


End file.
